Short Interest in iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) Rises By 18.1%

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 62,860,000 shares, a growth of 18.1% from the May 15th total of 53,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.2 days. Currently, 12.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on IQ shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of iQIYI in a report on Friday, May 17th. OTR Global reiterated a “mixed” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.18.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of iQIYI by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 127,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,950 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of iQIYI by 6.2% in the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 119,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 6,987 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of iQIYI by 65.0% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 7,219 shares during the period. abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of iQIYI by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 127,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 7,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in iQIYI by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 268,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. 52.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

iQIYI Stock Performance

Shares of IQ opened at $4.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $4.65 and a 200 day moving average of $4.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. iQIYI has a 12 month low of $3.06 and a 12 month high of $6.47. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.15.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. iQIYI had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 6.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that iQIYI will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

About iQIYI

iQIYI, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides online entertainment video services in the People's Republic of China. It offers various products and services, including online video, online games, online literature, animations, and other products. The company operates a platform that provides a collection of internet video content, such as professionally produced content licensed from professional content providers and self-produced content.